Al Gharafa coach Marcos Paqueta felt that the poor condition of the pitch at the Prince Mohammed Stadium in Jordan affected the quality of their opening game last week against Iraqi champs Arbil which ended in a 1-1 draw.

"The game was hard on both teams mainly because of the bad pitch conditions," Paqueta had complained after that match. "And if we had played on a better pitch, the players would have had a better game.

"In general we played a good game right from the beginning and we tried to play quick counterattacks and from one of them we scored the opening goal in the game," he added.

"After Arbil scored the equaliser, the game was open and both teams wanted to get out with a draw at least."

With no such worries at home, the focus of Paqueta and his team will be on producing a more attacking brand of football and move up the table.

One point from last week’s draw leaves them in second place, with Kuwait’s Al Qadsia, on the back of their 1-0 away victory over Pakhtakor, leading the group on three points.

But Al Gharafa, who are playing in the competition after one year’s absence, are well aware they will have to be on their guard against a side who, apart from Al Sadd, are the only other team to have featured in all five previous editions. And after a surprise home defeat, the Uzbek champions could not be more desperate to put their Asian Champions League campaign back on trail.

"Pakhtakor is a strong team with a lot of quality. We have great respect for them and we expect it to be a tough match," said Al Gharafa captain Saad al-Shammari. "But we need to win this one and we will do everything possible to earn the three points."

Paqueta will be making only one change to last week’s side, with his Iraqi striker Younus Mahmoud coming back from injury.

Paqueta ruled out suggestions that the recent league results would affect their performance in the competition.

"We have already wrapped up the league title," he insisted. "So whatever happens from here on will have little impact on how we fare in this competition. Now we are giving it top priority."

They looked convincing in a 3-0 rout of Al Khor early in the month but the Qatar League champions went down 1-0 to Qatar Sports Club and wasted a two-goal advantage to lose 5-3 against bottom club Al Shamal last week.

Pakhtakor coach Ravshan Haydarov has only one major injury concern with left back Ilhomjon Suyunov doubtful for the match.

Today’s game will be the first meeting between the two clubs after they clashed in the qualifying round of the inaugural AFC Champions League in 2002.

Al Gharafa, then known as Al Ittihad, claimed a thrilling 4-3 win in the first leg in Doha but were eliminated by Pakhtakor after a 3-0 loss in the return game in Tashkent.

Meanwhile, Al Sadd carry three points they earned last week after a 2-1 victory over Al Ahli to Abu Dhabi where they meet Al Wahda in Group C.

Both Al Sadd and Al Karama are level on three points, but the Syrians lead the table on goal difference.